Program teaches Wellfleet culture and history

The spring session of the Open University of Wellfleet, a forum for learning more about Wellfleet’s cultural history, will begin April 1 with five, six-week classes at cultural centers in town.

The in-depth look at Wellfleet this year includes exploring the area’s artists, analyzing scripts of the shows that will play this season at Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater, delving into town history, reading books associated with a sense of home in the area, and coastal ecology.

Open University was conceived by retired Brown University professor Rhoda Flaxman in collaboration with the hall and Wellfleet Public Library as a directed-discussion type of learning about local history and culture. Readings are assigned for mini-lectures and class discussion in the weekly classes through May 8 at the hall, library and WHAT. Tuition: $60.

The spring offerings:

— “Cape Cod Artists’ Views of Land and Sea” with author Deborah Forman, 2 to 4 p.m. Wednesdays at Wellfleet Preservation Hall, based on the 50 artists Forman included in her book, “Contemporary Cape Cod Artists: Images of Land and Sea.” The course will include presentations by several of the artists included in the book.

— “Stories of Home on Cape Cod: A Literary Exploration’” with Flaxman, 3 to 5 p.m. Thursdays at Wellfleet Library, on the topic of how establishing a home on Cape Cod differs from building a life anywhere else. The literature explored will include Henry Beston’s “The Outermost House,” Alice Hoffman’s “Blackbird House” and George Howe Colt’s “The Big House.”

— “The Complete History of Wellfleet” with Jeff Tash, 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesdays at Wellfleet Preservation Hall, with each of five two-hour lectures focusing on a different century, starting in the 1600s. Each presentation uses pictures, videos, audio recordings and storytelling.

— “A View from Inside the Summer Plays at WHAT” with Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater executive director Jeffry George, 4 to 6 p.m. Wednesdays at WHAT, analyzing the scripts in advance of the shows scheduled for the 2014 season. Each course participant will receive two tickets to the Friday preview performance of each show this summer.

— “Coastal Ecology of the Outer Cape with Gordon Peabody, director of Safe Harbor Environmental Services, 5:30 to 7 p.m. Wednesdays at Wellfleet Preseration Hall, exploring the area’s habitats, plants and animals. There will be guest speakers and a possible field trip.

Registration and information for all classes: http://wellfleetpreservationhall.org/index.php/wellfleet-preservation-hall-events/open-university or by phone at 508.349.1800.

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